The stationary images are taken at ƒ8 and 100 ISO, the BiF images are taken at ƒ4 and ISO 400, which gave me a shutter speed of 1/2000 second.

The first owl image was taken with the A-400, all others with the DA* 60-250. Tracking BiFs, auto-focus is a wonderful thing.
All image taken with a K-3


When taking pictures of these guys...



I started talking to this guy.


After telling me he had no use for ƒ5.6 lenses (I was shooting with the A-400 ƒ5.6, so he then did a backtrack, thinking I might be offended) he asked me if I'd taken an image of the Snowy Owl in St. Catherine's. I think I've heard tell of this creature, but it had passed out of my mind. Anyway, he said " just head out behind the new hospital, you'll see the cars.". As it happened, I would be driving through St. Catherine's in two days, to visit my daughter, and made a mental note to stop on the way.

After some googling and map questing we figured out where we needed to go found our way to the general vicinity and then parked beside the cars, (as advertised) and looked at what they were looking at. We weren't disappointed. I've never seen a Snowy Owl before, now I've seen two. There are said to be 4 hunting the fields in this area.

First view, one of them a distance away off in the filed. This is a heavily cropped shot, which explains completely why you need a 400-600mm lens and a K-3.


We were so close after this I switched to the DA 60-250.





We hung around long enough to photograph the owl in the air as he took off.







I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. I'd certainly recommend anyone near the area head out that way. It's probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.

[HawaiianOnline]

Beautiful!

[Scottnorwo]

Awesome pictures Norm. Those BIF photos are priceless. WOW

[normhead]

Beautiful!

Thanks

Awesome pictures Norm. Those BIF photos are priceless. WOW

Thanks. Burst mode is amazing.

[baro-nite]

Wow. Excellent story and what an encounter with a bird most of us will never see (in the wild, at least). And such beautiful photos!

[normhead]

Wow. Excellent story and what an encounter with a bird most of us will never see (in the wild, at least). And such beautiful photos!

Thanks for commenting.

[Panteg]

Great Shots

[slowpez]

A simply stunning bird Norm. I would love to see one of those guys in real life but these shots were a great substitute.

[normhead]

Great Shots

Thanks...

A simply stunning bird Norm. I would love to see one of those guys in real life but these shots were a great substitute.

hmmmm.. so how far a drive is it to St. Catharines? I know people drive from St. Catharines down to Florida all the time.

Rare snowy owl draws crowds in St. Catharines | St. Catharines Standard

Male Snowy Owl at St. Catharines

http://news.ca.msn.com/ontario/st-catharines/snowy-owl-makes-quite-the-splash

[Jacquot]

Fantastic photos. I still hope to see one down here this winter. Amazing talons on that bird.

[PentxOrni]

Nature provides so much for us...and we just have to anticipate...wonderful set of pics!

[RockvilleBob]

Very nice Norm. I have had no luck ever seeing on owl, except the zoo. There was a report that a snowy owl was in Maryland, near Conowingo where I go to photograph eagles. It was spotted for a few days and then it was gone. The reports indicated they were coming to Maryland for food, driven south due to climate change. They will need to figure out what trees are for.

[normhead]

Fantastic photos. I still hope to see one down here this winter. Amazing talons on that bird.

Good luck... they are so huge and awesome, I had to pull my eye out from behind the viewfinder just to watch a few times

Nature provides so much for us...and we just have to anticipate...wonderful set of pics!

Thanks

Very nice Norm. I have had no luck ever seeing on owl, except the zoo. There was a report that a snowy owl was in Maryland, near Conowingo where I go to photograph eagles. It was spotted for a few days and then it was gone. The reports indicated they were coming to Maryland for food, driven south due to climate change. They will need to figure out what trees are for.

Yes, I'm not understudying the climate change thing, but everyone seems to be saying it. If the ice is melting and things are warmer, there should be more wildlife up there not less? Anyway, there aren't a lot of trees on these farms, and there seems to be lots of mice, so they should be right at home.

[Sailor]

Fascinating photos, Norm. This critter certainly has a smug, imperious aura about him (her?).

Jer

[normhead]

Fascinating photos, Norm. This critter certainly has a smug, imperious aura about him (her?).

Jer

Thanks Jer... I'm not sure I know what imperious means, I'll have to go look it up.

[Sailor]

Thanks Jer... I'm not sure I know what imperious means, I'll have to go look it up.

I don't know what it mean, either - but I sure like the sound of it.

Jer